


Feels Like Home

by TheWalkingEvansworth



Category: Chris Evans - Fandom, Chris Evans AU - Fandom, Chris Hemsworth - Fandom, Chris Hemsworth AU
Genre: Brother-Sister Relationships, Eventual Relationships, F/M, Friendship, Gen, Romance, Siblings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-15
Updated: 2017-06-15
Packaged: 2018-11-14 14:19:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11209824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheWalkingEvansworth/pseuds/TheWalkingEvansworth
Summary: Camden Evans is finally coming home after spending most of her life working for her best friend's family's charity in impoverished countries. She has a life and relationships to rebuild and she doesn't know where to begin.Her best friend Dodie Calhoun has always been close to her brother Chris who is one of the biggest movie stars in the world right now. Could these two best friends become something more or is there too much standing in the way?And Chris has a big surprise for his sister that sends her reeling and wanting to run back to the safety of the confines of Africa.





	1. Chapter 1

Camden Evans couldn’t stop smiling as she watched her 7-year-old daughter who stood in the bathroom of their hotel room and stared in amazement at the water as it rained down from the shower head. “You gonna get in, Emma?” she teased, “Or just stare at it?”

                “Mommy, it’s just so magical.” 

                “I know, baby, but you still don’t want to waste it all. So either get in or turn it off.” Camden gently reminded her.

                “You’re right, Mommy. I’ll get in.” Emma obediently began undressing and stepped into the tub then pulled the curtain closed.

                “I’ll leave the door open, yell if you need me.

                “Emma staring at the running water?” Camden’s best friend, Dodie Calhoun asked with a smile when Camden plopped back against the huge king size bed.

                “Yeah.” Camden chuckled.

                “I guess she wouldn’t remember the last time she was around running water, would she?”

                “Nope.”

                Camden had been working with Dodie’s family’s foundation for as long as she could remember. First as a child with her parents and brother; then later traveling with her daughter. For the last two years, she was working in a remote village in Africa that had no running water or electricity. Dodie had spent the last 12 months with them, joining them after she graduated with her bachelors in botany and using the time to work on research towards her master’s in ecosystem ecology. But she would often join Camden and Emma during the summer months and even took a year off after graduating high school while they worked in a village together in Haiti.

                But now that Emma was getting older, Camden thought it was time to put her in public school and get her back near her family. It was not an easy decision for Camden to make because she loved the work that she did, but she knew she had to do what was best for Emma.

                “Mommy, will you comb my hair?” Emma asked. She walked out of the bathroom wrapped in one of the thick white hotel towels, and another wrapped around her head.

                “Of course.” Camden sat up and smiled lovingly at her daughter. Emma grinned broadly, showing two teeth missing and ran over to the dresser where their duffle bag was sitting. She rummaged through it until she found a smaller bag and fished out a comb and some pony tail holders.

Emma skipped over to the bed and presented the comb to Camden then turned around and Camden gently unwrapped Emma’s hair from the towel and patted it dry. She and Emma both already had naturally blonde hair that was streaked with natural platinum highlights from being out in the sun so much. Camden’s hair, which had a little wave, trimmed her own hair on occasion, kept it long. Emma’s hair was fine and straight, had never seen scissors and it fell naturally into a V to her waist.

                “One braid or two for bed?” Camden asked as she began to comb her daughter’s hair.     “Ummm, two!” Emma announced after looking over at Dodie for a help and answering after Dodie held up two fingers. After Camden combed out her hair, she parted it down the middle and quickly started on the first braid. She secured it with the hair tie Emma handed her and then she did the next side. Emma kissed Camden’s cheek and thanked her then hurried back over to the duffle bag, she reached into it and grabbed her nightgown and the stuffed Marie cat that she’d had since she was a baby. Camden pulled the covers back on the bed and Emma took a running jump onto the bed. Camden helped her into her nightgown then Emma bounced under the covers, snuggling the white stuffed cat doll to her face as she curled up against the pillow while Camden laid the blanket over her and kissed her cheek. “Sweet dreams, baby. I love you.”

                “I love you too, Mommy. And I love you, Aunt Dodie. Good night.”

                “Good night, Emma.” Dodie smiled before heading into the bathroom to get ready for bed herself. Camden shut off all the lights in the room but one. She quickly ran the comb through her own fine blonde tresses that nearly fell to her waist. She twisted them up into a loose top knot and secured it with a few bobby pins then changed into a pair of sleep shorts and an old t shirt. She sat on the edge of the bed and watched Emma sleep for a few minutes.

                Everything about her daughter was a reminder to Camden of Emma’s father; Camden’s first love, and virtually a contrast to herself. She was lean and lanky and tall for her age and although Camden was of average height she had wide hips and thick thighs and an over all, full hour glass shape. Emma was easy going and silly; and a little goofy, similarities Camden and Emma’s dad shared but the excessive apprehension that ran rampant in her own family had so far seemed to skip over Emma; something that Camden was eternally thankful for.

And as Emma got older, the resemblance was becoming more and more evident. Emma’s nose was definitely closer to her father’s strong nose rather than the Evans’ prominent triangular style, though Emma’s was a more delicate button version of it. She also had the same shaped nostrils and flared them the exact way he had whenever she was being ornery or got upset, just like him. And rather than taking after Camden’s own full lips, she had pretty bow shaped lips like her father. Even the shade of blue of her eyes was a drastic contrast; Emma’s was the same bright light blue that was almost aqua in the sunlight like his instead of deep sapphire; their only resemblances were their round eye-shape and thick dark lashes but she attributed that to the fact that those were shared traits with her dad as well.

Camden crawled under the covers next to Emma and Emma immediately scooted next to her. Keeping her stuffed toy nestled against her, she curled into Camden’s chest. Camden slid one of her arms under her pillow and the other over Emma and gently rubbed Emma’s back as her eyes drifted shut. She jumped when the bed shifted as Dodie climbed in on the other side of Emma and Camden’s eyes flew open.

“I tried to be quiet.” Dodie chuckled as she switched the light off. “Not like that would have helped.”

“You’d think years of sleeping in huts would have cured me of my jumpiness.” Camden joked quietly.

“It’s too ingrained in you.” Dodie propped her head up on her hand. “Are you excited about going home?”

“Is terrified the same as excited?”

“I think in this case yes.”

“Am I doing the right thing, Dodie?” Camden sighed.

“Yes.” Dodie assured her. “And it’s not like you’ll never do another service trip with the foundation again. We know you’ll always be involved and I know you have other things that you want to pursue, but Camden, it’s time for you to take a break. You can take shorter trips when Emma’s on summer break, like your family did when you and Chris were kids. It’ll be good for Emma to be in traditional school; she will never-could never be one of those rich entitled kids. She has a kind, generous heart and that isn’t going anywhere. For the first seven years of her life, she’s got to have one of the most unique childhoods and educations-this will just be a new adventure for her and it will be good too.”

“If any of those brats are mean to my baby,” Camden growled threateningly, “I’m homeschooling her.”

“Camden,” Dodie soothed.

“I know. I know.” Camden sighed. “That kinda defeats the purpose of all of this.”

“All she needs to do is find one good friend and the rest won’t matter.”

“Yeah.” Camden hugged her daughter protectively against her chest as she slept peacefully, “She just has to find her Dodie.”

“Emma is going to have no trouble making friends.” Dodie assured her. “And you never did either.” she pointed out. “A lot of people like you too, Camden, you just are too much of a spazz to notice.”

“I love you, Dodie.” Camden chuckled tiredly.

“I love you too, now go to sleep.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Camden laughed again before finally quieting down.


	2. Chapter 2

Camden yawned and downed the lukewarm cup of coffee that Dodie had handed her. She was already dressed and had let Emma sleep as long as she could but it was time to wake her up so they could go down for breakfast before heading to the airport. Camden stretched out next to her and kissed her cheek then brushed carefully extracted her stuffed animal from her arms and used it to tickle Emma’s face. “Waake uuup little rosebud, waake uuup.” Camden chimed in a sing song voice. She saw a smile cross Emma’s face then but she quickly squeezed her eyes shut and pretended to still be asleep. Camden kissed Emma’s cheek again then sat up, “Come on, Sweetie. We don’t have much time this morning. I let you sleep in and Mommy needs more coffee.”

“So does Aunt Dodie.”

Emma peered at her from her under her layer of thick dark lashes then yawned and stretched. Once she did that, Camden knew that Emma would be waking up so she left her be or Emma would get cranky and went to finish her hair. She sat on the edge of the bed, keeping an eye on Emma’s progress in the mirror and separated her long, hair into sections so that she could comb it. She quickly Dutch braided the sides of her hair, securing them together at the back, then pulled the rest of her hair into a low messy bun while Dodie watched on in amazement.

“You know, if I could do that do my own hair, I probably wouldn’t have cut it all off.” She mused.

“But I love that cut. If I had your sweet face, I’d want my hair to frame it.” Camden stated, pulling off her sleepshirt, and pulling the lacy peach bralette over her head.

“I don’t even know what that means.” Dodie laughed.

“You looked good when you had long hair, obviously, but that cut, the way it frames your face, it just really brings out your big brown eyes and your high cheeks bones.” Camden elaborated as she continued to dress, slipping a peach colored crocheted tank top over her head. She stripped out of her sleep shorts and pulled on a pair of short flowy cotton shorts with a large floral print on them.

“I see.” Dodie laughed again as she squeezed a dollop of anti-frizz serum into her hand then ran it through her thick chestnut chin length waves. The back of her hair stacked in layers that were just a little shorter than the front and the cut did flatter her tanned, heart shaped face, upturned nose and delicate mouth perfectly. “I can actually see my hair growing.” Dodie sighed as she scrutinized her reflection in the other mirror. “Look at it.”

“Oh stop bragging.” Camden huffed as she started gathering their things from the bathroom while Emma padded into the bathroom to brush her teeth.

“Oh trust me. You do not want all of this.” Dodie laughed, pointing at her head. She set the bottle of anti-frizz serum down and quickly stuck her hair into two little pony tails.

“Aww, Aunt Dodie, your hair looks so cute!” Emma gasped when she came out of the bathroom.

“Thanks, Em.” Dodie grinned.

Camden pulled out a pair of yellow cotton overalls with a multi-colored paisley print and a purple tank top and handed them to Emma then dug out Emma’s canvas sandals with the cat faces on them. “Come on, baby, we’ve got a long travel day. We need to get moving.”

“What are you going to do when you grow out of those shoes, Emma?” Dodie teased.

“Get them in a bigger size.” Emma said it with such seriousness that Dodie had to laugh.

After Camden urged Emma to check her backpack which was a pink and covered in My Little Pony, a gift from her Uncle Chris, to make sure she had plenty of things to keep her occupied on the long trip back to the states, she brushed out Emma’s hair and twisted it up into two buns. Dodie and Camden did a sweep of the hotel room to make sure they had everything packed up and then they head down to the hotel’s restaurant for breakfast before taking the shuttle to the airport.

                                ***************************

Once they were settled on the plane, Emma pulled out one of her story books, also a gift from her uncle. It was a chapter book about The Avengers. “Have you started that one yet, Em?” Camden asked.

“Not yet. I wanted to save it.” She looked over at Dodie. “Did you know that Uncle Chris is Captain America?”

“I did know that.” Dodie smiled.

“He has sent me chapter books about all of the Avengers by themselves but this is my first one about all of the Avengers together.”

“Is Captain America your favorite?”

“No.” Emma giggled, then looked wide-eyed up at Dodie, “Don’t tell Uncle Chris!”

“Your secret is safe with me.” Dodie assured her with a smile.

“I think I like Thor the best. He always tries to help his brother even though his brother is bad, he still wants him to be nice. And he has pretty hair.”

“I hope Mommy will let me get to watch the movies once we are in Boston.” She looked hopefully over at Camden.

“We’ll see. I haven’t seen them either.”

“Don’t look at me, I can’t help you out there either.” Dodie laughed. “I never had time for that before I joined you two. I was too busy with school. I barely turned on a TV and I can’t remember the last movie I saw.”

“Do you think Uncle Chris will be mad at us that we haven’t watched his movies?”

“Uncle Chris understands.” Camden assured her. “He knows that we didn’t have a way to, and besides, most of the movies he’s in are not appropriate for you.”

Emma leaned back in her seat and opened her book, sticking her worn out bookmark in the back of the book. She tucked her feet under her and leaned her head against Camden’s shoulder. It was one of the few traits Emma had inherited from her; a love of reading. Camden had always been an avid reader and once the shock of finding out that she was pregnant had worn off, she’d started reading whatever book she had been currently reading out loud to her belly. That continued after Emma was born and was always something they enjoyed doing together whenever they had free time. Emma caught on to reading quickly and started reading to Camden before she advanced to reading books on her own but she still loved to curl up next to Camden or they would stretch out together on a blanket in the sun and read next to each other. Camden dug out her own book and glanced over at Dodie who was lost in a Sudoku puzzle.

Emma read for almost the whole short flight to Hong Kong, but fell asleep for the final thirty minutes. Once they touched down, they had a ten-hour layover before their 6:15 flight that evening. After getting something to eat and doing some sight-seeing, the girls stopped at a shop for manicures and pedicures, then, doing some shopping. Emma who was normally a very well behaved child started to get cranky from the long day and Camden and Dodie did their best to distract her from how tired she was and took turns carrying her when she got too tired to walk.

Camden came very prepared for the extra-long flight to Boston and not only did she make sure that Emma hadher chapter books and other activities to keep her occupied, she also packed a few of her school lessons for her to work on as well. Since they typically didn’t stay in one place for very long, even though Emma would often attend school with the children in the village where they were working, Camden would also supplement her education and work with her one of one also to ensure that she didn’t fall behind.

Emma groaned when she saw Camden pull the math workbook out of her own tote bag. “I know.” Camden laughed. “I don’t want to either, but I thought we could get this one over with and out of the way.”

“Who helps your Mommy when you have a math question?” Dodie teased.

“You wanna do her math lesson?”

“I’d love to.” Dodie grinned.

“You like math, Aunt Dodie?” Emma grimaced.

“Your mommy is being very unfair to math. It’s a lot of fun. I can even teach you some secret games that only people who are good at math can play.”

“Here.” Camden handed over the math workbooks and a handful of pencils and erasers. “Enjoy your secret math club.” She teased.

Emma opened the book and showed Dodie what they had been working on and Camden settled into her seat with her book again, listening occasionally to the way Dodie explained things and hearing her talk about how she used math to help her determine how many trees a certain area would need when she helped with planting. They eventually took a break from the work book and Emma and Dodie were drawing trees and Camden was amazed at how Dodie had turned that into a math lesson.

“You’re hired.” Camden grinned.

“I’m happy to help any time she needs it.”

                                                                ****

Emma fell asleep with her face against the tray as she worked on a different lesson and Camden gently pulled her back into the seat and Emma curled up against Camden. The seemingly never ending flight finally came to an end. Camden was amazed that Dodie could sleep through most of it. She dozed a little bit but was never able to fully fall asleep and Emma was the same, after she initially fell asleep for a few hours, she was up for the rest of the flight and they did their best to pass the time.

Camden gripped Emma’s hand tightly while they made their way through the crowded airport and down to baggage claim. Emma rubbed her eyes and stumbled over her feet she was so tired so Camden picked her up. Emma wrapped her arms around Camden’s shoulders and rested her head against Camden’s shoulder. “Looks like I’m headed to your house.” Dodie said with a grin when she finally got a signal on her cell phone as they hauled their bags back up to street level. “Elmer’s at your mom’s, my parents are out of town.”

“You can always crash there too.” Camden smiled then scrunched her face up when Dodie led her towards a large black SUV. “Um that’s not a cab.”

“I know. I ordered us an Uber.”

“What the hell is an Uber?”

Dodie started laughing and helped the driver put their bags in the back while Camden still stared on suspiciously. “It’s fine, Cammie, I promise.”

“I’d rather take a cab.” Camden muttered as she slipped into the backseat with Emma.


	3. Chapter 3

The ride into the Sudbury, the suburb of Boston which Camden should call home though it felt strange to do so, was another forty minutes worth of traveling. Emma had her arms tightly wound around Camden’s neck and kept her head against Camden’s shoulder. “Mommy I’m so tired.” She whispered.

“I know, baby.” Camden soothed, rubbing her back. Emma wiped her face and Camden gently removed the hair ties from her hair and smoothed her fingers through Emma’s hair then gently rubbed her fingers over her head.

“That feels nice.” Emma told her and moved her head to give Camden better access.

Camden grinned and kissed Emma on the forehead. “We are almost home, Emmie.” Camden pressed her cheek against the top of Emma’s head and gently started rocking from side to side.


	4. Chapter 4

They finally pulled up to the familiar colonial style house where Camden lived with her parents and brother when she was little and her mother still did. And her brother Chris always came back to stay here whenever he needed a break from LA or if he was on the East Coast doing any kind of promotion for one of his movies. It felt strange looking at the house as she slid out of the backseat with Emma still in her arms. She’d been away for so long that it hardly felt like home but there was still something comforting about being here too. Emma had dozed off in the car so Dodie sent Camden ahead and she handled getting the luggage into the house.

Dodie set the final suitcase inside the living room and looked around anxiously for her dog. She had never been away from him for as long as she had on this trip and she hated being away from him for as long as she had but she knew he was in good hands. Her text from her mom said that he’d been with Lisa, Camden and Chris’ mom, for the last few weeks because she and Dodie’s dad were away on foundation business. The Evanses were huge animal lovers and she knew that Elmer was being spoiled during his stay with Lisa. She was just about to give up on finding Elmer when his little head popped up from the couch and she saw his little squishy pug face. “Elmer!” she whispered loudly and excitedly. He cocked his head to the side and then the other and slowly his curly tail came up and started to twitch. His jet-black body was hard to see in the dark room so he just looked like a wrinkly shadow looking back at her. “Don’t you remember your mama?” she cooed. Elmer tilted his head again and finally stood up.

“Elmie.” She called and recognition immediately appeared on his face when she called him by the nickname that only she used and he hopped off the couch and ran excitedly over to her and danced in circles in front of her then put his front paws on her legs and before she could pick him up, he plopped into a sitting position and stared up at her with his big black eyes and started howling at her. “I know, I was gone a long time, wasn’t I, baby?” she knelt down to pick him up and he covered her face with kisses while she squeezed him tightly. “I missed you so much, Elmie.” She ran her hands over his wrinkled back and he gave her another lick on the mouth then struggled to get down and started running towards the back door, his little claws clicking on the hardwood floor.  “Do you need to potty?”  Elmer started to run in circles again and excitedly jumped against the back door and whined until Dodie opened the door.

Elmer bounded down the steps of the back porch and was immediately bowled over by a bigger dog that Dodie didn’t recognize. Elmer got to his feet and bounded after the other dog, nipping at his back feet and trying to sound ferocious as he barked at him.

“You know there are healthier ways to deal with your ‘brain noise.’” Dodie teased when she found Camden’s brother Chris standing on the back porch taking a drag off a cigarette; staring out into the yard. He appeared to be watching the other dog, but she knew that he mind was not here, something he and his sister both had struggled with since they were kids and Dodie even hesitated saying something to him but she knew it was important to pull him back to the present. He blew out the smoke he’d just inhaled and set his cigarette in the ashtray that was resting on the ledge of the porch.

“Like run away and avoid like my sister did?” he challenged with an ornery glint in his bright blue eyes, “Because I could argue which one is healthier.” He pulled Dodie into his arms and squeezed her tightly, letting out a groan, “It’s so good to see you.”

“It’s good to see you too.” She sighed. He pulled away and kissed her cheek.

“Who’s the spazz who keeps knocking over my dog like a bowling pin?”

Chris grabbed his chest and threw his head back with a laugh, tickled by her comment. “That’s Dodger. I just adopted him a few months ago. Isn’t he great? He and Elmer are buddies. He’s still in that puppy stage, just a little over a year old.”

“Dodger? Let me guess, _Oliver and Company_?”

“You know me so well.” Chris chuckled, picking up his cigarette. “Where’s my sister?”

“Emma fell asleep on the way here so she already went up to bed. I’m sure she’s asleep too, or at least I hope she is-she barely slept on the flight home-you know how she is on planes. Me on the other hand, I’m wide awake, I pretty much slept the whole time.”

“Wanna go to _Fat Jack’s_?” he offered, referring to their favorite pub. Dodie pondered but looked out at Elmer and hesitated. “How ‘bout this, we walk Dodger and Elmer up to the food truck at the end of the street. Tonight’s the last night it’s gonna be there. Then we come back, have some beer here, and hang out on the couch with the dogs and watch some movies.”

A huge smile spread across Dodie’s face, “That, sounds amazing.”

Chris snuffed out his cigarette, and draped his arm around Dodie, “I know my girl.” He grinned. He pulled his arm back and clapped his hands together and called for Dodger. The brown and white colored dog bounded towards him with Elmer right behind him. Dodger danced around Chris’ legs while Elmer plopped at Dodie’s feet with an exhausted groan. “Come on old man,” Chris teased Elmer, “let’s go for a walk.” Elmer perked up at the word ‘walk’ and was immediately on his feet again.

“He’s only five, he’s not an old man.” Dodie scolded, giving Chris a playful shove in the back as she followed him back into the house.

“He groans and farts all the time.” Chris argued, “He’s an old man.”

“Well, then so are you.” Dodie grinned.

Chris threw his head back and laughed again as he clutched his chest and Dodie had to shush him. “Where are the leashes?” she giggled. It always tickled her the way he reacted whenever something made him laugh.

Chris grabbed the leashes and Elmer’s bright green harness from the hooks by the backdoor and Dodger started barking and jumping around excitedly while Chris tried to quiet him. “We’re going to wake the whole fucking house with this idea.” He laughed after he finally managed to hook Dodger’s leash to his collar.

“I know!” Dodie agreed with a laugh of her own, struggling to get Elmer into his harness as he danced around excitedly.  Chris squatted down next to Elmer who immediately put his front paws on Chris’ thighs and licked his face while Dodger started attacking Chris’ face with kisses too. Chris gave Dodger a gentle shove and tried to hold Elmer still so Dodie could slip the harness on him. It took a few tries because Dodger was persistent in trying to get Chris’ attention and nearly knocked him over.

“Well that was an ordeal.” Chris chuckled when they were finally out the door and on their way down the street; the dogs prancing happily in front of them.

“I was about to say fuck it, let’s order pizza.” Dodie agreed. “But I am dying for a hot dog.”

“Don’t do that.” Chris teased. “Don’t make it so easy.”

Dodie pushed against him until he was off balance, “Dirty. You always make everything so dirty.”

“You’re out here telling me how bad you need a wiener and you expect me NOT to go there?!”

Dodie smiled and shook her head, “I’ve missed you.”

Chris grinned back and draped his arm around her, “I’ve missed you too.”


End file.
